Overseas Singaporeans casting vote by post can be game-changer in presidential election: Experts

For the first time ever, Singaporeans who are 21 years of age or older, residing overseas, and who are eligible to vote will be able to register and cast ballots by mail. According to experts who spoke with Straits Times, this might truly be a game-changer in the upcoming presidential elections, which are expected to be in September 2023. A legislation was passed in March to permit Singaporeans living abroad to vote by mail. Earlier, they had to go to polling sites in certain locations to cast their ballots, which meant that some people were unable to do so in 2020, when Covid-related travel restrictions were effective worldwide.

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What will be the implications of these election rules revisions for the 2023 Presidential Election?

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Elections Department (ELD) revealed that 4,794 of the 6,570 overseas voters who were registered to vote at the most recent general election in Singapore in 2020 actually cast their ballots.

Only 10 overseas voting locations, in "countries or cities where there is a significant number of Singaporeans," were available for voters to cast ballots, according to ELD's website. Shanghai, Dubai, Canberra, London, Tokyo, Beijing, Washington, Hong Kong, San Francisco, and New York are among the cities where the stations are situated.

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It is hard to predict precisely how much the turnout rate would rise because the great majority of overseas Singaporeans are not registered voters, according to assistant professor of constitutional law Benjamin Joshua Ong of Singapore Management University (SMU).

“The right to vote is a constitutional right, and we should welcome efforts that make it easier to exercise this right. Of course, democracy is much more than just putting a piece of paper into a box every few years. But voting is a solemn ritual that reinforces a citizen’s ties to the democratic system.”

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National University of Singapore adjunct law professor Kevin Tan said the postal votes from overseas voters could matter in an election like the 2011 Presidential Election, where Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam edged out Dr. Tan Cheng Bock by 7,382 votes.

“Looking at it quantitatively, the overseas votes might have swung the election the other way because the margin was very, very slim,” he said. He also asserted that voting is a constitutional right and the modifications done by the ELD were long overdue.

The 56-year-old lawyer Benjamin Yap, a Singaporean living in Ho Chi Minh City will now be able to vote from overseas. “I have been away from Singapore for so long, but I still feel Singaporean at heart. I see my ability to exercise my right to vote as very much intrinsic to my status as a Singaporean,” said Mr Yap, who lives with his wife and their 15-year-old son. He is one of 185,800 Singaporeans living abroad.

Another first in the next election will be the establishment of special polling places on the nursing homes' grounds and the use of mobile polling teams to collect ballots from residents who are bedridden there.

The unique voting arrangements will be tested in nursing homes with more than 50 voters, according to the ELD. Over 2,000 voters will be reached, or roughly two-thirds of registered voters who are now living in nursing homes. This will involve 25 to 30 nursing facilities.

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